Each year, our youth group goes to Fort Bluff Camp in Dayton, Tennesee (http://www.fbc-naca.org). They always have amazing preaching, but this week through a long series of events, Daniel Hollenbeck, soccer coach at Trinity Baptist College who happened to be at the camp that week, ended up preaching one morning. He preached a sermon entitled “The Familiarity of the Cross”.

The entire point of the sermon hit me hard: We (Christians) have become so familiar with the cross that it no longer holds any of the power and awe that it did the first time we experienced it. It doesn’t affect us, we can just move right past us. Even films like The Passion of the Christ, which was so graphic and moving, affects us for a day or two then we move on with life. We have allowed “The Old Rugged Cross” to become just that- Old and Rugged in our hearts. It’s just another thing to us.

It’s 1939. John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry are working on a revolutionary device, the best of its kind. The name? ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. Their system contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8 feet (2.4 m) by 3 feet (0.9 m) by 100 feet (30 m), took up 1800 square feet (167 m²), and consumed 150 kW of power.
It’s 1946. ENIAC is unveiled to the world. Over the coming years, the system would be used for projects such as the hydrogen bomb and artillery firing tables for the U.S. military. Everyone is amazed at what electricity is able to do, and the power that it has. The military pays over $500,000 for this system.

It’s 1977. Apple Computer releases the first mass-market pre-assembled personal computer, the Apple II. The system contains a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs. Starting price is $1298. People are awed at the small size of the computer, and that it comes pre-assembled.

It’s 2007. Dell Computer features the Inspiron 530, running a 1.6 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 512 MB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, CD-RW/DVD drive, and Microsoft Windows Vista Basic for $349. Computer geeks yawn.

Now I’m not trying to compare the cross to a computer. What I am trying to say is that humans become used to things, and even though it may be so much better than the original, it gets brushed off. We do this too often with the cross. Take some time and read scripture on the cross. Read this Wikipedia article on crucifixion. It was a terrible form of punishment. I’ve put some scriptures about the crucifixion and torture Christ endured below (all in the ESV).

Matthew 26:67-68 “Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”"

John 19:1-3 “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.”

John 19:17a “And he went out, bearing his own cross…”

Mark 15:29-32 “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.”

Matthew 27:45-46 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”, that is, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”"

Matthew 27:51-54 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”"

Don’t let the cross become stale in your life, or in the lives of your kids. If you can capture the pain of the cross, and focus on what Christ did for you, you can revolutionize your entire life. Make it special.